Ghanaian soccer fans resident in Ebonyi, have warned against the disbandment of the current Black Stars that represented Ghana in the just concluded AFCON, where the team’s performance fell below their expectation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Black Stars lost the third place match against the Eagles of Mali, who defeated them 3-1 to win the bronze medal.
It would be recalled that the same Malian team had also defeated the Black Stars 2-0 at the Gabon-Equatorial Guinea edition of the AFCON.
The concerned fans, who spoke to NAN in Abakaliki on Sunday in separate interviews said, that the “proposed disbandment’’ would be counter-productive.
Mr Kwame Edusei, a Cobbler, said that even though Ghanaians were disappointed with the team’s performance, it should not be done away with.
“The team’s main problem is the constant changing of the coaching personnel and players which makes it difficult to have a well blended team in place.
“Kwesi Appiah, who took over from the Serbian Goran Stevanovic after last year’s failure, started a rebuilding process and he introduced new players with no major tournament experience.
“Though Nigeria seems to be succeeding with inexperienced players, I see the development as a one-off situation,
“it is not generally applicable to the success of teams,” he said.
Basil Tetteh, a trader told NAN that Appiah’s rebuilding process was untimely.
He said that too much was expected from the team within the short period of its existence.
“His team is barely a year old, and one would have expected the authorities to allow him to use the AFCON to assess his team and not to expect the team to win the tournament.
“I advice the authorities to retain and give him up till the next AFCON edition in Morocco 2015, when the team would have been thoroughly drilled,’’ Tetteh added.
Gerald Antwi, a Student warned the Ghanaian FA to resist the urge to reshuffle the team’s technical crew since it was already prosecuting the FIFA 2014 World Cup Qualifiers billed for Brazil.
“Changing the team now would be detrimental, as it will affect the team’s cohesion that will be needed to qualify for the world cup; to make amends for the poor AFCON showing.
“Our problem started in 2010 when we commenced a rebuilding process that should have been used to consolidate on our brilliant performance at the 2010 World Cup,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Emmanuel Ughasoro, a Nigerian Sports Administrator, has called on the Ghanaian authorities to recall notable players that were left out of the AFCON squad.
“My suggestion should not be seen as interference in Ghanaian football matters, but I feel that players such as the Ayew brothers, Sulley Muntari, and Michael Essien should be recalled to fortify it.
“The undue preference given to Captain Asamoah Gyan should have been extended to fitter and more effective players,’’ he stressed.
Mrs Prisca Odah, a Nigerian businesswoman, called on Ghanaian fans across the globe to accept the current situation and not to crucify the team.
“I spent several years in Ghana and know that the fans are passionate about their national teams, especially the Black Stars,” she said.